You saw a mirror booth at somebody's wedding, and now you are deciding whether to book one or go with a standard open air setup. The two look different in the room, and they behave very differently once a line forms. Here is what actually separates them, including the parts rental companies tend to skip.
What a mirror booth is
A mirror booth is a full-length mirror, usually five to seven feet tall, with a camera and a touchscreen hidden behind two-way glass. Guests walk up, see themselves head to toe, tap the glass to start, and follow animated prompts. Most models let people sign the screen with a finger before a print comes out of a slot in the frame or the base.
The appeal is real. It reads as furniture rather than equipment, it handles full-length shots well, and the on-screen prompts entertain the people waiting.
What an open air booth is
An open air booth is a camera on a stand pointed at a backdrop, with no enclosure around it. Guests line up in front of the backdrop, a countdown runs, and prints come out a few seconds later. Because nothing boxes the group in, group size is limited only by how wide your backdrop is.
Where the two really differ
- Picture quality. An open air booth built around a DSLR and a studio strobe puts real glass in front of a real sensor and lights the subject properly. A mirror booth shoots through two-way glass, which eats light and can pick up glare from room lighting or a window behind the guests.:
- Group size. Open air handles six to ten people on a wide backdrop. A mirror works best for one to four guests standing square to the glass.:
- Line speed. Drawing and signing on the screen is fun for the first group and slow for the twentieth. A plain countdown moves a crowd faster.:
- Behavior at the glass. People look at themselves in a mirror. They fix their hair and check their teeth, and a lot of frames end up as guests staring at their own reflection instead of at each other.:
- Floor and surface. Both want a similar footprint, but a mirror is heavy and needs a solid level floor. It does not belong on grass, gravel, or a temporary stage.:
We do not rent a mirror booth
Worth saying plainly: Peek-A-Booth does not carry a mirror booth. We also do not run a Glambot camera arm and we do not do green screen. If a mirror is the specific thing you want, book it elsewhere and have a great event.
What we run instead is an Open Air Photo Booth with a DSLR, studio strobe, lighting kit, and a shimmery backdrop. Unlimited pictures, instant 2x6 prints, QR sharing, props, and a personalized template. It is $400 for two hours, $550 for three, and $700 for four, and it needs about 8x8 feet. We stayed with it for the image itself: a strobe doing the lighting beats a small panel firing through mirrored acrylic.
If floor space is the problem, our Digital Photo Booth has the smallest footprint we carry. No printer, but unlimited pictures, GIFs and boomerangs, and sharing by QR or text, starting at $300 for two hours.
Ask the venue these before you book either one
- How much clear floor the booth corner really has, measured rather than guessed:
- Where the nearest outlet is, and what else is already on that circuit:
- Ceiling height in that corner:
- Whether load-in is stairs, an elevator, or a long hallway:
- Whether they require a certificate of insurance, and by what date:
- Whether the room lights get dimmed for dancing:
One last piece of planning math. A print booth turns a group around in roughly 60 to 90 seconds once people queue, so two hours covers about 50 to 75 guests. Past a hundred, book three or four hours or you will spend the last half hour turning people away. Schedule those hours over the middle of the reception, not the start. Nobody uses a booth while dinner is being served.